Hi there, and welcome to GratuityWare.org,
home of GratuityWareTM[1] Software.
While I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this concept, I
seem[2] to be the first to actually
coin the term, and I thought I'd make a go at promoting it. This
page is still in its infancy... so for now, I'll provide answers to
a few would-be-FAQ's (nobody's asked but me, as of this writing...
because nobody knows about this page as I'm writing it. ;-)

What is GratuityWareTM software?

"What is this GratuityWare stuff?" you may be asking yourself...
In short, GratuityWare is a concept wherein software (or other
things) gets distributed in a "free" way (with the implications of
that word on both money and liberty), but the author/maintainer of
the software (or whatever) has hopes for getting something in return
for it as well. The return that comes up is from folks who decide,
entirely at their option, to give a "gratuity" back to the
author/maintainer. I feel like I can explain this a little bit
better by breaking it down into a list of attributes that do and do
not apply here, so here's a brief list of what GratuityWare is and what it is not.

Anything that a user must pay for. While developers
of GratuityWare do hope to get some money (or in some cases
other sorts of benefit) for their efforts, they are also
interested in the concept of sharing, and they know that
different folks have different resources at their disposal, so
they do not require a fee, even for unlimited-use licenses of
fully functional versions of their software.

Necessarily any form of software. I know of at least
one project out there which distributes physical objects in a
way that I believe is compatible with the GratuityWare
concept.

Fully defined (this of course is a corollary to the last item
in what GratuityWare is).

Why does GratuityWare exist?

The GratuityWareTM concept is one which I came up
(though see the first paragraph above) with as
a way to solve the "problem" (or at least dilemma) of wanting
software to be free, in both the liberty and
monetary senses of the word, but also wanting to be able to get
money (because of its status in todays society as a universal medium
for exchange) for software that I write[8], and also to be able to provide a form of
thanks to those who have written software that I use.

See, the thing for me is this: I'm a big believer in having
things be free, but then giving a gratuity if I like something.

What GratuityWareTM software is out there now?

Currently, none. I expect this to be changing soon, though, as I
have a piece of software that I'm writing which I expect to release
as GratuityWare as soon as it's just a little further along.

OK, so is there currently any GratuityWare that isn't software?

Yes. A little. This page is provided as GratuityWare. ;-)

What's a Gratuity, exactly?

My definition (I'd use somebody else's, but the on-line
dictionary that I normally use seems to not be OK with quoting them
without explicit prior consent, which they don't seem to give out
to the world under a published "terms of use" policy... *sigh*) of
the word gratuity is this:

A gift (usually but not necessarily of money) given by
one person or organization to another person or organization on a
purely voluntary basis, usually as an expression of the gratitude
that the giver has for some product or service previously rendered
to the them by the recipient of the gratuity.

In other words, it is: a way to say thanks; not required,
though it can be requested (and in the case of GratuityWare, it
always will be, though perhaps only implicitly); of a form and/or
amount which is determined by the giver, though a recommendation or
specific request can be made by the potential recipient.

For example, if I wrote some piece of software, I might make it
freely available, but in the documentation (possibly including
within the UI for the application, if relevant) somewhere(s), I
might put a request for people to send me $10 if they were making
use of it. Now, that request would be somewhere that wasn't in a
particularly annoying spot -- i.e. it wouldn't interfere with the
user's ability to use the software, and it wouldn't go away, even
if the user had made the donation; With GratuityWare, there's no
such thing as a "registered" or "unregistered" version of
the software -- though that's not to say that there can't be a
facility for a user to be registered as a user of the
software (it also doesn't (and couldn't, if my understanding of
copyright laws is accurate) preclude the original copyright owner
from also releasing a different version of the software, without
the same notification of being GratuityWare, some of their users --
but that version would (presumably) not be GratuityWare). And
someone who was using the software, if they decided they did in
fact want to make a contribution, could make a contribution in the
amount of $10, as requested, or in some other monetary amount,
either higher or lower than $10, it's their choice, or perhaps even
in some other way, such as providing me with some item or service
that I've expressed interest in.

As another example, I know of some folks who have distributed
software that they had written as "PostcardWare", in which they
request a postcard from satisfied users. I believe that
PostcardWare is, or at least can be if certain requirements are
met, compatible with GratuityWare -- I.e. there could be
GratuityWare in which the "requested"/"suggested" gratuity is a
postcard, instead of money.

How can I release my software as GratuityWare?

Unless you're me... right now, there's no documented procedure
for doing this, so please don't use the name without my prior
permission. However, I do very much expect this state of affairs
to change, hopefully in the relatively near future. In the mean
time, do feel free to contact
me if you'd like to use the GratuityWare name, and/or to help
out with making this easier in the future (see also, the next
item).

Wow, this is cool... How can I help?

The main way you can help is by making a monetary donation to me
(yes, that's right, to me -- there's currently no company
or other formal organization behind GratuityWare, it's just me,
David Lindes -- that may or may not change in the future). Right
now, the easiest way for you to do that (or at least the easiest
way for me to facilitate you doing so ;-) is to use PayPal, by
clicking on the button below. The amount is left blank, and that's intentional... Give $1...
or $1,000,000,000... or anywhere in between (this last choice is
what's recommended for most people, but I'm being intentionally
vague about the details).

Another way you can help is to talk to me about making your own
software GratuityWare... See above for information on that.

A third way you might help -- which is perhaps (for now) the
biggest help, but which I suspect will be accessible to the
smallest number of people -- would be by donating some serious
legal resources... Either donating your time if you're a J.D., or
by hiring (talk to me before doing this!) a lawyer for me.
There are a number of legal issues which I expect I'll want help
figuring out the details of, including things about trademark law,
assistance in writing a license (or perhaps several different
licenses) that people could use (at least one of) to make their
software be GratuityWare, and at least one or two others. So, if
you're able and willing to give significant help in this arena,
please contact
me about doing so... but making monetary donations also works,
as it (eventually/potentially/whatever) allows me to hire my own
legal help.

A final way is simply to lend your moral support, either by
contacting me and saying something about it, or by telling others
about GratuityWare, or the like.

Footnotes:

GratuityWare is a trademark of David Lindes.
No, it's not a registered trademark. No, I don't intend on
preventing other people from using the name in general, but;
Yes, I do intend to try to prevent people from using it without
following certain guidelines. No, I haven't established those
guidelines yet. If you're interested in using the trademark, or
you think that you have a claim to it that predates my own claim
(starting 2001-03-25), please send me some
e-mail about it.

GratuityWare is notrequired to be
Free Software as defined[5] by the folks at the Free Software Foundation (FSF),
but it is strongly encouraged that GratuityWare
developers make their software free in that sense, and it is
required that something bearing the
GratuityWareTM label be obtainable (even if only in
compiled form), without charge for the software.

What's that, Free Software and for
profit? How can that be? In short, yes. For a longer answer,
I'll once again defer[5] to the
folks at the FSF to explain
that one.

I defer to the FSF for now, because they've
put a lot of good work towards making their philosophy publicly
known and understood. I may, in time, come up with my own
documentation more specifically targeting the
GratuityWareTM[6] concept. If and
when that happens, the links to the FSF will either be replaced
or supplemented with those definitions. (Also, if for any
reason someone at the FSF has a complaint[7] about me linking to them in the way I
am here, I will do my very best to make whatever changes are
found necessary to alleviate that complaint... FSF folks, just
let me know.)

OK, I'll give... In case any of you have been
wondering why I sometimes signify a trademark and sometimes
don't, it's because of my understanding (which is admittedly not
backed by any legal counsel or degree, at least at this point in
time) of how Trademark law works... In particular, I understand
(caveat lector) that trademarks must be usable as adjectives.
As such, whenever I've used the term "GratuityWare" in such a
way as to be an adjective, I've placed (or at least I meant to)
the trademark symbol there. In places where it's used in other
ways, I have not. If my understanding is correct, this is
consistent with "proper" actions towards protection of ones
trademark(s). In the future, I'll probably get some legal
advice in this area, and at that time, depending on that advice,
I may change my behaviors in this regard.

I have no reason to believe that the FSF would
have such a complaint, but since I haven't actually asked them,
I thought it the polite thing to do to make it explicitly known
that I am interested in being neighborly with them.

Two things: First, I'm talking about stuff
that I've written on my own time, using my own resources, not
"works for hire" that I do for an employer. Second, I'm using
the words "write" and "written" to include not only primary
authorship, but also contributions to a group effort.